Correcting Semicolon Errors - SAT Writing

A semi-colon, or a colon, is used to connect two complete sentences: here the second sentence is a fragment.

A semi-colon separates two independent clauses. No punctuation between "individualism" and "and" is necessary.

A comma should separate the two clauses of the sentence; the second clause is a dependent clause, and cannot stand alone as its own sentence.

A semicolon should only ever be used to seperate two parts of a sentence that could each stand as independent clauses on their own. If you can't take the two parts of the sentence on either side of the semicolon and make them into their own sentences, then you should use something different. In this case, "red, green, and yellow" does not make sense as a sentence on its own, so a semicolon should not be used. A colon makes more sense because a list is being introduced, and colons are often used to introduce lists.

The sentence as written as a complex sentence, and it joins its two parts with a semicolon and the conjunction "but;" however, a compound sentence needs to be joined either by just a semicolon or a conjunction and comma, but not a semicolon and a conjunctionl; therefore the correct answer choice is "Pensions are a complicated financial problem for many municipalities, but many cities have made changes to their pension programs in recent years."

Although the sentence is written as compound sentence joined by a semicolon, the first portion, "Drawing the opposing team into an attacking formation," is actually an introductory clause. As such, the clause should be set apart from the rest of the sentence by a comma. Therefore, the correct answer choice is "Drawing the opposing team into an attacking formation, the coach felt he knew exactly what he wanted to do."

The use of the semicolon in the sentence is incorrect, as a semicolon needs to separate two independent clauses in a compound sentences, instead of separating a dependent clause from the main part of the sentence it is reliant on. The sentence needs to feature a comma separating the two parts, making the correct answer "The new plan had made a small difference, reducing costs and expenditures somehat over the last year."

A compound sentence, like the one written in this question, must have its two independent clauses joined by either a semicolon or a conjunction and a comma. Using a semicolon and a conjunction, like written in the sentence, is never correct, and the semicolon should be replaced by a comma, as done in "The new style was loathsome to older designers, but they all knew the importance of the innovations from younder stylists."

The sentence is written as a compound sentence, one that joins two independent clauses together to show their relationship. A compound sentence can only be joined by either a semicolon or a comma followed by a conjunction, but never a semicolon and a conjunction as in the sentence above. Therefore, the correct answer choice is "He worked at the factory for thirty years, but he never once got a promotion."

The sentence is written as a compound sentence, one that joins two independent clauses together in order to show their relationship. A compound sentence can only be joined by either a semicolon or a comma followed by a conjunction, but not a semicolon and a conjunction, as in this sentence as it is written. The only answer choice that correctly joins the two clauses is "The entire party worked to get the candidate elected, but the election still went against him."

The correct use of a semicolon is connecting two related independent clauses. If a part of a sentence can't stand alone as a sentence, it can't be connected to another part of the sentence with a semicolon. In this case, the correct form is "Carrie and her cat, Mittens, were having a relaxing afternoon; Mittens was basking in a sunbeam near Carrie's feet," which connects the two related sentences with a semicolon.

Here, “In the end” is an introductory phrase, so it must be followed by a comma. Because “In the end, it became clear that Jennifer had never liked camping” and “she only went along on the trips to placate her friends” are both independent clauses (in other words, they can stand as complete sentences on their own), they must be separated by a semicolon. Using a comma between the two independent clauses would result in a comma splice, which is grammatically incorrect.

There are two independent clauses in this sentence—“You’ve never been a fan of roses, which are many people’s favorite flowers” and “the flowers seem too fancy for your simple tastes." They must be separated by a semicolon. Using a comma between the two independent clauses would result in a comma splice, which is a grammatical error.

The words “which are many people’s favorite” are a relative clause that modify “roses,” and since that clause can be removed and still leave a complete sentence (it’s non-essential information, in other words), it must be set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma.

A semicolon is used to combine two independent clauses. Because the phrase "to brush his teeth twice daily and to avoid acidic beverages" is a list and a dependent clause, the appropriate punctuation is a colon. This makes the correct answer "When Harold went to the dentist, he was given two instructions: to brush his teeth twice daily and to avoid acidic beverages."

A semicolon connects two independent clauses, or clauses that can stand on their own. "Dr. Martin Luther Kind Jr. was a champion of the Civil Rights Movement" and "he stood for freedom and equality" are both independent clauses (featuring self-contained subject-verb structures), so "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a champion of the Civil Rights Movement; he stood for freedom and equality." is the correct answer.

In the sentence as written, the semicolon is unnecessary. You are permitted to use a semicolon when there are two independent clauses being joined together. "Play in the sunshine" is not, however, an independent clause, therefore it is incorrect to use a semicolon.

There needs to be a separation between the two independent clauses in the example sentence. One such potential separation is to put a semicolon between them. Therefore, the best correction of the underlined portion is "I like to go out in nature; it's more peaceful there than it is in the city."

A semicolon is used to separate two independent clauses. Each of these two clauses is independent, as each can stand on its own as a complete sentence. The use of a semicolon, therefore, is perfectly appropriate. Using a comma instead would be a comma splice. The correct option was the one which re-produced the example sentence.

A semicolon is used to separate two independent clauses. If this separation is done with a comma, as in the original sentence, it is a comma splice. Because each of the two clauses on either side of the punctuation are independent and each could stand on its own as a complete sentence, a semicolon is appropriate punctuation. A period would also be grammatically correct, but in this case a semicolon is used to illustrate that the clauses are directly related to one another, the second clause helps to explain the first.